orange & black compound butter

An orange and black color palette on the dining table captures the Halloween spirit in a subtle manner. Compound butter creates easy elegance by infusing details into a basic table staple. Elevate your next dinner party with a hauntingly beautiful sweet-salty-umami spread.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)

1-2 Tablespoons pureed black garlic

1 Tablespoon black lava salt

1 Tablespoon poppy seeds

Edible flowers (recommended: orange nasturtiums)

Allow butter to come to room temperature. Use a fork to mix your preferred amount of pureed black garlic into the butter. (Alternately, you can use a stand mixer to incorporate the garlic into the butter.) Turn garlic butter out onto a piece of parchment or wax paper. Roll the butter up into a log approximately 2 inches in diameter. Unroll the log and place on a fresh piece of wax paper. If the butter is getting too soft to maneuver, return it to the refrigerator for a few minutes to solidify slightly. Press flower petals into the butter. Mix black lava salt and poppy seeds together on a plate. Roll the log in the salt and seed mixture to coat. Wrap the finished log in wax paper or parchment paper, place in an airtight container, and store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Notes:

• Compound butter is simply butter that has flavorful supplements folded into it. Serve it as a spread for bread or use a wheel of it on a butternut squash “steak” in a main course.

• Compound butters can normally be frozen for future use, but I recommend making this one 24 hours in advance at the soonest due to the use of fresh flower petals. Unthawing will cause the flowers to become slimy and the salt to “bleed.”

• Here in my garden zone 7, nasturtium flowers are available all the way until first frost at the end of October or early November. They have a subtle peppery flavor but will primarily serve as a decorative element in this recipe due to the power of the garlic. Other edible flowers can be used as you desire.